Page 295 - DMGT509_RURAL MARKETING

Rural Marketing

Notes that people who had money started purchasing the products unmindful of the costs, just to
satisfy their needs as well as their ego. But, the growth of rural market could be attributed to
many other reasons that in one way increased the sales as well as the profits of the companies.
Some of the important causes for the growth of rural markets are:
1. The rise in disposable income of the rural families

2. The economic boom
3. Timely rains
4. Rural population involved themselves in business other than agriculture
5. Increase white-collar jobs in nearby towns

6. Commercialization of agriculture
7. Saturation of the urban markets
8. Media penetration in rural areas (particularly satellite channels)
9. Globalization

10. Economic liberalization
11. Revolution in the Information Technology
12. Women empowerment
13. Improving infrastructure

However, there was a significant role of the corporate enterprises simultaneously in the
development of rural market. Their timely intervention into the rural areas, their appropriate
planning, their perception and identification about the growth of rural markets and the use of
marketing strategies all have equally contributed for the progress of rural markets. Even though
corporate houses were hedged with so many problems in the rural areas, they saw a galore of
opportunities in the rural market and converted all the pessimistic characteristics of the rural
market into affirmative attributes. They satisfied themselves with the availability of limited
infrastructure, saw a sign of prosperity rather than fear during the entry of competitors into the
rural markets, showed excitement at the availability of satellite channels in the rural households,
visualized their cash bells ringing with the increase in purchasing power of the rural masses that
came equivalent to their urban counterparts. They traced a constant rise in the demand for those
products that were once confined mostly to the urban houses. But, blame it on the kind of
awareness created by the companies - people started using the products for other purposes as
seen earlier.

!

Caution In India also, the ratio of rural to urban population was slightly higher than the
world’s ratio with 70 percent of them living in rural areas. They domiciled in nearly
6,27,000 villages spread over 3.2 million sq. km.

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